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Variables do not update in design


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40 replies

Same issue as well. Is a fix coming?


Neil7
  • New Participant
  • 12 replies
  • August 12, 2024

Also have this issue, if the token doesn’t update automatically both the tokens and library are useless.


Franco7
  • 1 reply
  • August 13, 2024

Same here. Half of the file updated but other half not. I already tried using the ‘Regenerate all instances’ command but anything happened


  • 1 reply
  • September 4, 2024

Same issue here! Changing a variable in a referenced variable layer doesn’t update the respective typography styles in the UI.


If you’re experiencing the same issue, the solution is to update through the library. Here’s how:

  1. Go to the “Asset” tab.
  2. Click on the Library icon (it looks like a book).
  3. You’ll see two tabs: “Libraries” and “Updates.”
  4. Select the “Updates” tab to view the list of pending changes.
  5. Click “Update All” to refresh everything.

This should resolve the problem. Hope this helps!


peter.vanbest

That’s not the solution; the issue lies in what Vasiliy wrote:


Adam_Fenyvesi
  • New Participant
  • 6 replies
  • September 13, 2024

Hi all! The issue is indeed hat Vasiliy wrote , but Castillo’s solution works.
So in the assets panel in given design file you have to manually push the update so it refreshes in the components using that variable u changed.

If I’m not mistaken u still have to do this file by file but at least u dont have to manually adjust each and every element.


Eldin_Pindzo

I’m still experiencing this issue. Any update?


CamilaB
  • Active Member
  • 28 replies
  • October 10, 2024

I’m also having this issue with several files that use a specific library. It doesn’t help to update all pages, there’s this variable (that I don’t know which one is) that always says there’s an update but never updates. 🙄


Cindy_Wong1
  • New Participant
  • 8 replies
  • October 24, 2024

I am also having this exact issue - I updated a color variable in my library file and published it, but not seeing these color changes on components that use that color variable. Both components IN the library file or local files that use that library remain the original color that was used for the variable… Making it very difficult to use variables.

To any other designers who read this, my workaround solve for this at the moment is to delete the old color variable, create a new color variable (with the new hex value), and reassign the new variable to any elements that used the old variable. Then publish your library. Local files should update accordingly.

Figma, please fix this!


Celine_
Figmate
  • Community Support
  • 3563 replies
  • November 14, 2024

Hey everyone, sorry to hear you are having issues with variables, and thank you for flagging this! We are not able to reproduce the issue on our end.

Thank you @Deejay_Castillo1 for sharing this workaround to the community. As mentioned, please make sure to accept library updates.

About @Pugovkin_Vasiliy’s case, I see in his support ticket that he marked his issue is solved by checking this article: Review and accept library updates.
Pugovkin_Vasiliy, feel free to continue the conversation via your support ticket if you have any ‘new’ issues relating to this. Your case will be automatically re-opened.

I’ve checked in our backend, we have another similar issue reported by a user that’s been resolved. For that case it appears that the user or another user deleted the mode collection and created a new one. Since these are two different variables, one from one mode collection and another from another mode collection, please also make sure to reattach your variables accordingly.

For others in the community who may encounter a similar issue, we would like our team to investigate it further as the root cause of your issue may be different. Please reach out directly to the support team by submitting a bug report: here
Be sure to use your Figma account email, explain the steps you have done (this will help us to replicate on our end), and include a link to the file and share it with support-share@figma.com as an Editor, so we can take a closer look. Thank you 🙏


Pugovkin_Vasiliy

Hey, thank you for keeping in touch with us. So, I learned how to work with this issue, but it looks like a problem to me still in chained library cases.
Typical example:

  1. There is Library A where I store color variables.
  2. There is also Library B where I store components.
  3. Component X in Library B uses Color Y from Library A.
  4. There’s a Design File using Component X. Initially it looks and works as expected.

…from here problems start…

  1. I change the hex value of Color Y in Library A and publish it.
  2. In Library B the update indication comes up, I receive all updates and see the new color on the Component X. 👍

…here I often don’t notice the indication to publish the library changes in Library B, because I didn’t do any changes, I only received the update…

  1. I look at the Design File: there’s no library update indication (though both libraries are included in every file team-wide) and Component X’s color is outdated.
  2. It’s still clear that Color Y is used but the color is old on the element and on the properties panel. Though, as it is linked to the Library A, if I click into color selection and find Color Y in the library- there’s the updated color. 🤯 Screenshot:

To designers stumbling over this: what you need to do is to actually publish Component X from Library B too. This not really obvious, I agree, but it looks logical in one way, though it creates such confusing situations as in step 8.

I suggest library variable linking to be sort of passed-through. So that there’s no need to publish intermediate libraries. You still can (and in some cases need to) publish Library B, but for files having access to both variable and component libraries receiving update from variables should be sufficient if that was the only thing that was updated.

P.S. While writing this it seemed that once I actually received an update at step 7. So, maybe there’s also some buggy randomness factoring in.


Pugovkin_Vasiliy

And to further illustrate how confusing it becomes at times… Here all the same steps, but now I have a simple shape in the design file using the same color variable directly from the library. In this case there’s a pending update indication, but things get even worse after accepting the update.


hcarn
  • New Member
  • 1 reply
  • April 30, 2025

Does anyone have a fix to this problem? I’ve set up a big design system, the variables have updated just fine for many days, but now the variables in light- and dark mode doesn’t affect the design until I create a new instance or duplicate the component. 

The changes done to the “default” color mode gets applied straight away, but other than that I have the exact same problem as Visaliy.


Luis_Rodrigues

Hello. I’m having the same problem here; with nested components, it makes a non-logical reset without a pattern, and variants go back to default in some cases. Predefined icons also reset, even with size variants. When I go and check the instance of a component, the nested variants are set in the correct way, but the instance shows other random variants. I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but it got worse after the update with the new releases of the Config Figma event. I´m working on a huge Design System so deleting modes is not a solution.


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